The RBC Canadian Open will serve up not one but two professional debuts this summer.
During the PGA Tour event’s annual media day on Monday, tournament officials announced that both Luke Clanton and Gordon Sargent are expected to make their debuts as official PGA Tour members June 5-8 at TPC Toronto.
The tournament begins the week after the NCAA Championship, which ends May 30.
Both Clanton and Sargent earned their cards via PGA Tour University’s Accelerated program, and they will each have full status through next season. Sargent passed the program’s 20-point threshold over a year ago, though opted to defer his membership and return for his senior year at Vanderbilt. Clanton, a current junior at Florida State, achieved his 20 points earlier this spring with a made cut at the Cognizant Classic. Clanton, however, has yet to officially announce that he’s foregoing his senior season, and he isn’t expected to do so until after the NCAA postseason, which begins next week with regionals.
Clanton, who bumped Sargent from No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking last August, has already reached as high as No. 87 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He has four top-10s on the PGA Tour since the start of last summer, including two runners-up, unprecedented for an amateur. He also has won three times in college this spring and is currently ranked fifth in the country.
Sargent, meanwhile, is in the midst of a career-worst slump. The 2022 NCAA individual champion and past U.S. Walker Cupper doesn’t have a top-10 finish since last summer’s Northeast Amateur. He’s not cracked the top 50 in five starts this spring for the Commodores, and in addition to slipping to No. 20 in WAGR, he’s a shocking No. 522 in the national collegiate rankings.
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